This 'OUAT' Death Wasn't The Snow Queen's Fault

Could it actually be possible that I'm feeling a little sorry for The Snow Queen on Once Upon A Time? I can't be, right? Sunday night's episode of OUAT revealed The Snow Queen's past and what happened to the third sister, Helga. And, of course, it wasn't pretty — The Snow Queen killed Helga on OUAT. I know, that sounds really bad, but in the many flashbacks to Arendelle on Sunday night, OUAT also revealed that it absolutely wasn't The Snow Queen's fault that this happened to her sister and destroyed her family. In fact, it was a familiar face from Disney's Frozen that caused Helga's death — the Duke of Weselton made an appearance during "The Snow Queen," so prepare to be weirded out.

It was clear that OUAT's Frozen storyline would occur after the events of the Disney film, but Ed Kitsis and Adam Horowitz never mentioned anything about the multitude of flashbacks fans would face. Sunday night's episode was almost entirely done in flashbacks, which proved that the Snow Queen is just an older version of Elsa down to a T (well, except that her name in Ingrid). "The Snow Queen," was, as you've probably guessed, all about Ingrid and how she ended up in the magical urn that Kristoff and Elsa released her from. And the story was just tragic enough to make me feel a little pang of sympathy for her, even though she's totally crazy.

Ingrid, Helga, and Gerda (Anna and Elsa's mom) were actually best friends and great sisters that cared about each other and constantly supported Ingrid even though they knew she was different. It was pretty heartwarming to watch and only slightly morbid. But anyway, here's where the Duke of Weselton comes in — a younger, but still uncoordinated on the dance floor, Duke began courting Helga around the time Ingrid was coming of age. And it seemed to be going pretty well until he showed his true colors and made a pass at Ingrid because the Duke was obviously only interested in the throne.

This scene was kind of the worst, but the great thing about it was that Helga didn't believe for one second that Ingrid tried to steal her boyfriend. Instead, she told the Duke off in the best possible way, but then he started on a rant insulting Ingrid, Helga, and the entire kingdom. And, unfortunately, the Duke drove Ingrid clear over the edge with her powers and she ACCIDENTALLY blasted Helga in the heart, causing her to immediately turn into a block of ice. (So much more serious than Frozen — Anna lived for, like, three days before she started freezing to death.) And that was the end of Helga.

Two things that are the worst about this — one, this power play for the Arendelle throne wasn't enough for the Duke of Weselton, because he returned to try to hit on Elsa and Anna again in Frozen and two, he caused Ingrid to kill Helga. I mean, this is THE WORST. I could understand if OUAT wanted Ingrid to kill her sister because she's deeply evil, but this was all a misunderstanding and a mistake. And I honestly feel really sympathetic towards Ingrid now, considering how much of a terrible sister Gerda was about all of this. Ugh.

Image: Jack Rowand/ABC; frozenfangirl/Tumblr